Achromatic angle-insensitive infrared quarter-wave retarder based on total internal reflection at the Si–SiO₂ interface

Abstract

An achromatic infrared $(\mathrm{\lambda }=1.2–4 \mu \mathrm{m}),$ Si-prism quarter-wave retarder (QWR) is described that uses total internal reflection at a buried $\mathrm{Si}–{\mathrm{SiO}}_2$ interface at an angle of incidence ϕ near 33°, where $\partial \mathrm{\Delta }/\partial \varphi =0.$ The retardance Δ deviates from 90° by <±2° within a field of view of ±10° (in air) over the entire bandwidth. Because the ${\mathrm{SiO}}_2$ layer at the base of the prism is optically thick, this QWR is unaffected by environmental contamination.

© 2004 Optical Society of America